To receive as a correct record
the Minutes of the Meeting of the City Council held on January
30th 2019 (previously circulated).

Minutes:

The
minutes of the meeting held on 30th January 2019 were
considered for approval.

The
Mayor informed Council that, immediately following the meeting in
January, Councillor Edwards had informed the Deputy Monitoring
Officer that he had forgotten to declare an interest in the
Statement of Gambling Policy item, and had contributed to the
debate and voted. The interest was in respect of his employment,
where there was a gaming machine on the premises. The error will be
recorded in the minutes of today’s meeting. It should be
noted that the policy statement was clearly carried and Councillor
Edwards’ vote would not have changed the
resolution.

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 January
2019 were signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

126.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To receive declarations by Members of interests in
respect of items on this Agenda.

Members are reminded that, in accordance with the
Localism Act 2011, they are required to declare any disclosable
pecuniary interests which have not already been declared in the
Council’s Register of Interests. (It is a criminal offence
not to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest either in the
Register or at the meeting).

Whilst not a legal requirement, in accordance with
Council Procedure Rule 9 and in the interests of clarity and
transparency, Members should declare any disclosable pecuniary
interests which they have already declared in the Register, at this
point in the meeting.

In accordance with Part B Section 2 of the Code Of
Conduct, Members are required to declare the existence and nature
of any other interests as defined in paragraphs 8(1) or 9(2) of the
Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

Members advised of the following interests at
this stage:

Councillor Hanson declared a prejudicial
interest in relation to the Housing Revenue Account budget item as
she had a close relative who occupied council housing. She would not take part in the debate or the
voting. (Minute No. 137 refers.)

Councillor Mace declared a non-prejudicial
interest in the revenue budget item as a committee member of the
Friends of the City Museum. (Minute No. 131 refers.)

Councillor Barry declared a non-prejudicial
interest in the Housing Revenue Account budget item as Chairman of
the Marsh Community Centre, which received funding from the
Council. (Minute No. 137 refers.)

Councillor Charles declared a non-prejudicial
interest in the revenue budget as a patron of The Dukes theatre,
which received grant funding from the Council. (Minute No. 131 refers.)

127.

ANNOUNCEMENTS - Honarary Alderman Paul Woodruff

To receive any announcements
which may be submitted by the Mayor or Chief
Executive.

Minutes:

The Mayor reported the sad
passing of Honorary Alderman Paul Woodruff.Paul was elected to represent the Halton-with-Aughton ward in 1995 as an independent
councillor and served until 2017 when he was made an Honorary
Alderman. In 2011 he was the Mayor of the district with his wife
Dee as his Mayoress.

Paul funeral would take place
on Thursday 7th March at 12.30pm at Beetham Crematorium followed by refreshments at the
Scarthwaite Hotel.

Members stood in a minute’s silence in his
memory.

128.

ANNOUNCEMENT - Charity Quiz Night

Minutes:

The Mayor informed Councillors
that he would be holding a Charity Quiz night on Friday
29th March at Lancaster Town Hall commencing at 7.00pm.
Tickets were on sale priced £6.50 from the Mayor’s
office, which would include a hotpot supper.

The Mayor told Members that he
intended to re-order the agenda to take the deferred items on the
Property Investment Strategy and the Investment Governance
Framework after the Capital Programme Report and before the
Treasury Management report, as this was the most logical order for
dealing with all the budget-related items.

129.

QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC UNDER COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE 11

To receive questions in
accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rules 11.1 and
11.3 which require members of the public to give at least 3
days’ notice in writing of questions to a Member of Cabinet
or Committee Chairman.

The Mayor asked Councillors whether
there was any wish to suspend Council procedure Rule 17.4 to allow
extended budget speeches for Group Leaders and proposers of the
motion and any amendments. No request to suspend the rule was
received.

Councillors were reminded that
recommendations (1) to (3) of the report were ‘budget
decisions’ within the terms of regulations and Procedure Rule
19.7 of the Constitution, which required a recorded vote to be
taken. Consequently he would be asking for a recorded vote for
those matters.

Before presenting the Cabinet report,
Councillor Whitehead declared a non-prejudicial interest as a
Patron of The Dukes theatre, which received grant funding from the
Council. She then put forward Cabinet’s final budget
proposals to allow the Council to complete its revenue budget
setting for 2019/20. The proposals were as set out in the report,
with the addition of an inflation increase to grants made to
voluntary and arts sector organisations. The cost of this,
approximately £10,000, would be met from reserves, and would
have no impact on the General Fund Revenue Budget figure which
Council was being asked to approve.

There were a number of questions from
Councillors, which Councillor Whitehead, Councillor Warriner and
the Interim Head of Finance/Section 151 Officer responded to.
Councillor Warriner agreed to supply a written answer to
Councillors to a question asked by Councillor Thynne about how
funding for homelessness was being spent.

Councillor Whitehead, seconded by
Councillor Blamire, proposed the recommendations as set out in the
report:-

“(1)That the
General Fund Revenue Budget of £15.937m for 2019/20 be
approved, resulting in a Council Tax Requirement of £9.396m,
excluding parish precepts, and a Band D basic City Council tax rate
of £226.95.

(2)
That the supporting General Fund Revenue Budget proposals be
approved, as summarised at Appendices 1 and 2 of the report and
that an inflation increase for 2019/20 be applied to Council
grants to voluntary and arts sector organisations, the cost of this
to be met from reserves.

(3) That the Reserves
Strategy be approved, as set out at Appendix 4 of the
report.

(4) ThatCouncil
notes the Section 151 Officer’s advice regarding robustness
of budget estimates, the adequacy of reserves and balances,
specificallythe advice that the minimum
level of balances be increased to £2m (an increase of
£0.5m), to provide for added uncertainty.

(5) That the budget
transfer (virements and carry forwards)
limits be approved as set out in Appendix 5 of the
report.”

An amendment from the Green Group was
proposed by Councillor Hamilton-Cox and seconded by Councillor
Barry:-

“Council to use an electricity
supplier with a much lower carbon footprint than npower. Allow up
to 10% of current electricity costs. Money to be taken from
reserves and from an energy-saving initiative during
2019/20.”

Debate followed on this amendment,
before a vote was taken and the amendment was clearly lost.

Councillor Hamilton-Cox then proposed
another amendment, seconded by Councillor Barry:-

Councillor Whitehead introduced the Budget
Framework’s Capital Strategy and Capital Programme report.
Councillor Whitehead and the Interim Head of Finance/Section 151
Officer responded to Councillors’ questions. It was noted
that the first bullet point of paragraph 6.12 of the strategy,
under the heading “Governance and Scrutiny”, was to be
removed.

Councillor Whitehead proposed, seconded by
Councillor Bryning:

“(1) That the General Fund
Capital Programme, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be
approved.

(2) That the Capital
Strategy, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report, but with the
first bullet point of paragraph 6.12 removed, be
approved.”

“That a ‘climate emergency’
element is built into the scoring system for capital
bids.”

After debate, a vote was taken on the
amendment, which was clearly lost.

Debate on Councillor Whitehead’s
proposition followed, which was carried by 33 votes to 14, and
three abstentions, when put to the vote.

Councillor Mace requested that his individual
vote be recorded in the minutes. Councillor Edwards made the same
request. It is noted that Councillor Mace voted against the
proposition, as did Councillor Edwards.

Resolved:

(1) That the General
Fund Capital Programme, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be
approved, subject to a ‘climate emergency’ element
being built into the scoring system for capital bids.

(2) That the Capital
Strategy, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report, but with the
first bullet point of paragraph 6.12 removed, be approved.

Councillor Whitehead presented a draft
Property Investment Strategy, deferred from the last meeting, to
Council for approval. She responded to Members’ questions and
explained some amendments which had been made to the strategy in
response to feedback received. These had been circulated at the
start of the meeting and were:-

“Lancaster City Council must consider
how the proposed investment might improve the economic, social and
environmental well-being of the Lancaster district area, and how,
in conducting the process of investment, Lancaster City Council
might act with a view to securing the economic, social and
environmental improvement.”

Approval of the Strategy, with inclusion of
the amendments set out above, was proposed by Councillor Whitehead,
seconded by Councillor Hanson.

There was a lengthy debate about the Strategy.
At the close of debate, the Mayor called for a vote, which was
clearly carried. Councillor Mace asked that it be recorded in the
minutes that he had abstained from voting.

Resolved:

That the draft Property Investment Strategy,
subject to the amendments set out below, be approved.

“Lancaster City Council must consider
how the proposed investment might improve the economic, social and
environmental well-being of the Lancaster district area, and how,
in conducting the process of investment, Lancaster City Council
might act with a view to securing the economic, social and
environmental improvement.”

Councillor Whitehead presented a Cabinet
report providing proposals for the governance of investment
decisions for Council to consider for approval. The item had been
deferred from the January Council meeting and there were a number
of change to the arrangements, which had been made in the interim
as well as a revised draft process chart (Appendix B). A note of
the changes and revised chart had been circulated at the start of
the meeting. The changes were:

Regarding the paragraphs to be removed from
pages 17 and 18, the sheet of amendments explained that these
paragraphs were to be removed based on the latest discussions which
were covered in the revised flow chart which showed that under the
current constitution, all final decisions on property investments
would be made at a Cabinet meeting, which followed on from a joint
Cabinet/Scrutiny consideration of any final proposal.

The constitutional limits would be set on the
recommendation of the Constitution Working Group which was due to
meet for the final time on 28 February 2019 and recommend a new
Constitution to Council on 13 March 2019.

Councillor Whitehead responded to questions
from Members, before proposing the following recommendations:

“(1) Council approves the
delegation of investment decisions to the leader in accordance with
the policy framework set out in the Medium Term Financial
Strategy.

(2) Council notes that
there will be further changes to the Constitution to
follow.

(3) Council approves the
principles and outline process in Appendix A to include the
amendments detailed above, revised Appendix B, Appendix C and
Appendix D.

(4) Council requires
Scrutiny Committee to consider and approve the detailed scrutiny
process and recommend any changes to the procedure
rules.

(5) Council requires the
Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider a work programme to
include i) review the effectiveness and outcomes of any individual
decision ii) carry out a review of the investment portfolio. Such
review to make any recommendations for improvement to the decision
making or governance by January 2020.”

Councillor Hanson seconded the proposal.

There was debate on the proposition before a vote
was taken and the proposition was clearly carried. Councillor Mace
asked that it be recorded in the minutes that he had abstained from
voting.

Resolved:

(1) Council approves the
delegation of investment decisions to the leader in accordance with
the policy framework set out in the Medium Term Financial
Strategy.

(2) Council notes that
there will be further changes to the Constitution to
follow.

(3) Council approves the
principles and outline process in Appendix A to include the
amendments detailed above, revised Appendix B, Appendix C and
Appendix D.

The Mayor informed Councillors that
recommendations (1) to (4) of the report were ‘budget
decisions’ within the terms of regulations and Procedure Rule
19.7 of the Constitution, which required a recorded vote to be
taken. Consequently he would be calling for a recorded vote for
those decisions.

Councillor Warriner then presented
Cabinet’s final budget proposals in relation to the Housing
Revenue Account, to allow the Council to complete its budget
setting for 2019/20 and update its financial strategy to 2023.

Members asked questions and Councillor
Warriner responded, before proposing the recommendations in the
report:

(1) That Cabinet’s
recommendation to approve the council housing rent levels for
2019/20, as set in accordance with statutory requirements, be
noted.

(2) Thatthe Housing Revenue Account budgets and future
years’ projections be approved, as set out in Appendix A of
the report.

(3) That the revenue
growth proposals as set out at Appendix B of the report be
approved.

(4) That the minimum
level of HRA unallocated balances be retained at £0.5M from
01 April 2019, and that the full Statement on Reserves and Balances
as set out at Appendix C of the report be approved.

(5) Thatthe Council Housing Capital Programme be approved,
as set out in Appendix D of the report.

(6) ThatCouncil notes the Section 151 Officer’s advice
regarding robustness of budget estimates, the adequacy of reserves
and balances and the affordability of borrowing.

Councillor Reynolds seconded the
proposition.

An amendment, in the form of an additional
point (7), was proposed by Councillor Hamilton-Cox, seconded by
Councillor Barry:-

“Council congratulates the housing
department on their retro-fitting of properties on the Vale Estate.
Council asks that a report on this work be brought back to Cabinet
and Budget and Performance committees with a view to rolling out
further similar projects elsewhere in the district.”

This was accepted as a friendly amendment by
Councillor Warriner and his seconder.

There was debate on the proposition, complete
with friendly amendment, before the Mayor called for a recorded
vote on (1).

Councillor Kershaw, Chairman of the Personnel
Committee, presented a report of the Committee, to enable Council
to consider a revised pay policy statement for 2019/2020 for
approval by Council, as required by the Localism Act 2011.

Councillor Kershaw responded to questions from
Members before proposing approval of the statement, seconded by
Councillor Pattison.

There was a short debate, followed by a vote.
Approval of the statement was carried unanimously.

Council considered a report of the Interim
Head of Financial Services to approve 2019/20 council tax rates for
the district.

Approval of the recommendations, as set out in
the report, was moved by Councillor Whitehead and seconded by
Councillor Metcalfe.

There was no debate and the proposal was
clearly carried when put to the vote.

Resolved:

(1)That it be noted that, under delegated powers in
accordance with section 84 of the Local Government Act 2003, the
following amounts have been calculated for the year 2019/20, in
accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax
Base) Regulations 1992 (as amended) made under section 33(5) of the
Local Government Finance Act 1992 (the
“Act”):

(a)41,400.00being the amount of
its council tax base for the whole district [item T in the formula
in section 31B of the Act];

(b)

(c)

16,984.24being
the amount of its council tax base for the non-parished part of the district; and

Parish

Tax Base

Parish

Tax Base

Aldcliffe
with Stodday

Arkholme-with-Cawood

Bolton-le-Sands

Borwick

Burrow-with-Burrow

Cantsfield

Carnforth

Caton-with-Littledale

Claughton

Cockerham

Ellel

Gressingham

Halton-with-Aughton

Heaton-with-Oxcliffe

Hornby-with-Farleton

Ireby and
Leck

Melling-with-Wrayton

Middleton

Morecambe Town Council

145.97

172.27

1,680.02

88.49

104.27

54.24

1,664.22

1,087.83

56.51

265.58

1,023.55

84.83

992.43

668.08

344.76

114.80

148.23

211.79

9,678.08

Nether Kellet

Over Kellet

Over Wyresdale

Overton

Priest Hutton

Quernmore

Roeburndale

Scotforth

Silverdale

Slyne-with-Hest

Tatham

Thurnham

Tunstall

Warton

Wennington

Whittington

Wray-with-Botton

Yealand
Conyers

Yealand
Redmayne

278.27

353.20

125.25

357.06

92.59

241.94

21.04

144.27

824.21

1,309.86

215.94

239.29

62.97

869.06

56.52

164.10

211.98

109.43

152.83

being the amounts of its council tax base for each
parish within the district.

(2)That in accordance with section 35 of the Local
Government Finance Act 1992, it be noted that there are no expenses
to be treated as the City Council’s special
expenses.

(3)That the following amounts be now calculated by the
City Council for the year 2019/20 in accordance with Sections 31 to
36 of the Act, as amended by the Localism Act 2011:

(a)£129,028,450.61being
the aggregate of the amounts which the City Council estimates for
the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act taking into account
all precepts issued to it by parish councils;

(b)£118,969,407being the
aggregate of the amounts which the City Council estimates for the
items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act;

(c)£10,059,043.61being the
amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above exceeds the aggregate
at 3(b) above, calculated by the City Council, in accordance with
Section 31A(4) of the Act, as its council tax requirement for the
year. [Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act];

(d)£663,343.61being the
aggregate amount of all special items (parish precepts) referred to
in Section 34(1) of the Act;

(e)£9,395,700.00being the
council tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for
2019/20 (excluding parish precepts);

To receive questions in
accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rules 12.2 and
12.4 which require a Member to give at least 3 working days’
notice, in writing, of the question to the Chief
Executive.

Minutes:

The Mayor advised that two questions had been
received by the Chief Executive in accordance with Council
Procedure Rules. Both questions were from Councillor Hamilton-Cox
to Councillor Whitehead and had been circulated.

The first question was:

“As at 1st January 2019, what is the number of
(non-purpose-built) properties, and the number of bedrooms within
those properties, in city council wards which claim exemption from
council tax as student accommodation?”

Question two, and the supplementary were:

“As at
1st January 2019, what is the number of bedrooms in
purpose-built student accommodation which claim exemption from
council tax?”

“Has the city council
received any information from Lancaster University, formally or
informally, in the past 12 months which helps to identify the
predicted supply and demand for additional student accommodation
from September 2019 onwards, for the next five
years?”

As it was late in the evening at this point,
Councillor Hamilton-Cox agreed to receive written answers to his
questions.